


5 Times Peter Lost Something

by sapphirestark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: 5+1 Things, BAMF Peter Parker, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Humor, Irondad, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Precious Peter Parker, Sick Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but it's not really about the trip, it's what we deserve, its NOT sad i promise!!, science pun shirts, spiderson, this is a happy zone, this is just fluff y'all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-02-16 16:36:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirestark/pseuds/sapphirestark
Summary: ... and one time he found something instead.1. Notes.2. Patience.3. A Reputation.4. His Voice.





	1. Notes.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first chaptered work! Had this idea in mind and couldn't let it go. I have it all planned out so it should all be up fairly soon!

“Your lab reports are due today. Either give them to me now or hand them in until 3pm today, if you wish to make some last adjustments. There’s a drop-off box next to my office.” 

The bell rang and interrupted Mrs Keaton’s voice. There was a collective sense of relief amongst the students - Mrs Keaton was strict and didn’t tolerate anything but 100% alertness during the entirety of her chemistry class. 

Peter dug through his bag in search of his notes while Ned was walking to the front of the class, together with six or seven or students, to hand in his report. The others weren’t missing the chance to make some last improvements during lunch break - including Peter. He really wanted to rewrite some parts of the report based on data he’d collected just yesterday when he had finished his project at the Tower. He’d fallen asleep in the lab at some point but had found his notes meticulously folded on the kitchen counter the next morning, together with a post-it note from Tony Stark himself reminding him not to forget them. 

And he hadn’t. So why couldn’t he find them now?

By the time Ned returned, half the class and their teacher had already left for lunch.

“Pete, you ready?”

Peter had taken to emptying his entire bag on his desk (well, almost his entire bag - the suit was still in a hidden compartment of it), frantically looking through his papers and internally yelling at himself for not heeding MJ’s advice on school supply organisation. 

He looked at his best friend in despair. “Ned, I can’t find my notes! I know I packed them this morning!”

Ned frowned at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. So why aren’t they here?” Peter flipped through his calc notes from last week, with no success. 

“Maybe someone stole them?” Ned suggested while shaking Peter’s copy of _Richard III_ in search of loose lab notes between the pages. 

“Who would steal chemistry lab notes?”

Ned shrugged. “Someone who doesn’t like you?” 

“Gee, thanks,” Peter replied sarcastically, letting himself fall on his chair and staring at the pile of school supplies on his desk. In hindsight, it was a true miracle that much stuff even fit in there. Ned handed him _Richard III_ and smiled encouragingly. 

“Come on, let’s go to lunch. If you just did them last night, maybe you can still remember some parts?”

Peter sighed but began packing up his stuff anyway. “I doubt it. It was lots of statistics, and I added a new significance test that I’ve never done before. I can’t replicate it that fast.” 

“Mrs Keaton loves you, though! Maybe she’ll give you an extension. And even if you just hand in what you have now, she’ll probably give you an A. Can’t let her prodigy student fail, right?” Ned grinned and clapped a hand on Peter’s back. 

Peter rolled his eyes, but smiled tentatively. It was true that Mrs Keaton tolerated him more than others - she realised that her lessons didn’t challenge him a lot and mostly let him do his own thing, which mainly involved testing new web components. However, Peter thought that was all the more reason he couldn’t hand in anything but top-notch work today. He really didn’t want to lose his chemistry class privileges. He also didn’t want to find out what it was like to be in Mrs Keaton’s bad books. 

“I mean, I guess I wouldn’t fail. But you know her, she won’t let me get away with mediocre.” Peter blanched. “Oh my God, Ned! What about decathlon? MJ will murder me if my chem grade drops!”

Ned gave him a pitying look. “I’m sorry, man. Maybe Keaton will let you make up the points or something?” 

Peter looked at him disbelievingly. 

“Okay, yeah, probably not.” As an afterthought, Ned added: ”When MJ murders you, can I have your X-Wing Lego set?” Peter gave his best friend a light whack on the head in response.

They entered the cafeteria, which was already bustling with noise, and sat down at their usual table by the windows. MJ was nowhere to be seen yet, which, for maybe the first time ever, Peter welcomed. He couldn’t lie to her (at least not well) and flaunting his failure to submit coursework that was a piece of cake to him was probably not a good idea.

While Ned unpacked his lunch, Peter opened his lab folder, forlornly staring at the last paragraphs. He could already envision the red ink in the margins, with his chemistry teacher adding question marks and “elaborate!” notes and deducting points for poor reasoning. 

“Couldn’t you ask Friday to send them to your phone or something?” Ned bit into his sandwich. 

Peter shook his head. “I didn’t save them on her servers. But -” He took out his phone and opened his messages. “- I could ask her if I packed them this morning. Just to be sure.” 

Peter: _karen can you ask friday if i packed my chem notes this morning?_

Karen: _Hello, Peter. Friday says that if you are referring to the notes on the kitchen  
counter - yes, you did._

Peter: _ok thanks!_

“Friday says I packed them.” 

Ned shrugged noncommittally, chewing on his BLT. Peter sighed. 

“Okay, well, guess this is how I’ll die then.” He slumped back in his chair. “Murdered by my chem teacher’s disappointment. Don’t invite her to my funeral.” 

Ned’s eyes widened as he stared at something behind Peter. “No, dude. _This_ is how you’ll die.” He nodded in the direction of the door behind Peter, and he turned around to see MJ rapidly approaching. 

“Fuck. Ned, don’t tell her. Talk about something.” 

“Like what?” 

“Anything, dude! I don’t care! I’m decathlon specialist for chemistry and physics, do you want Flash to take my place?” Ned’s eyes grew wide at this but before he could say anything, MJ threw her backpack on the floor next to Peter and sat down.

“Hey, losers.” She was carrying a copy of _Henry VI_ , with a bookmark already halfway through the play. 

Peter decided that maybe eating something was the better idea, appetite or not, because then at least he wouldn’t have to talk. He determinedly bit into his apple and focused on chewing, which he hoped would school his face into a neutral expression. 

“So.” MJ opened her book, resuming on part 2 of the play. “How’s your chemistry project for Keaton coming along?” 

Peter choked on his apple. 

“Um, really well,” Ned supplied. “He put a lot of effort in, Keaton’s gonna love it.” Peter threw him a glance, fully intent on conveying the message _“what the hell, dude?”_

Ned seemed to get the idea because he quickly added: “But then again, who knows with Keaton, right? She’s so unpredictable. She might hate it.” Ned shrugged. Peter stared at his best friend. Was he being serious? 

“Interesting.” She turned a page, and Peter felt his heart rate beginning to normalise again. This was entirely too stressful for a Monday. 

He was about to start a conversation with Ned to forget about his chemistry fiasco when MJ interrupted the brief silence again.“So if I asked you for your results on the Mann-Whitney U-Test, you could tell me?” 

Peter almost dropped his apple and Ned looked entirely unconvincingly unbothered. 

“Um, yes, of course. It was, uh, positive.” 

“By what factor?” 

“Um, I - I don’t know. It’s, um, a long number.” 

“Why don’t you look it up?” MJ raised her eyes from her book and stared at Peter challengingly. 

“Uh, I -” – “He already handed it in,” Ned interjected. Peter threw him a grateful look. If MJ ever became a police interrogator, Spider-Man would be out of a job due to a lack of criminals.

“Really?” MJ raised an eyebrow, and Peter cleared his voice. The local bank robbers were nothing against this. 

“Um, yeah. This morning, in class.” 

“Weren’t you missing this, though?” With her usual poker face, MJ opened her copy of Henry VI on the last page, took some papers out of it, and slid them across the table. Peter’s heart missed a beat when he recognised the three neatly folded pages with a red post-it note on the front. 

“Oh my God, MJ!” He grabbed the papers and opened them, skimming over his late-night statistics. “Where did you find these?” 

“They were in this book. You returned it to the library this morning, remember?” 

He did remember. They were reading Shakespeare’s history plays in English class and he’d finished _Henry VI_ over the weekend, so this morning he’d exchanged it for _Richard III_. 

“MJ, you’re saving my fucking life right now.” He grinned at her and swore that she almost smiled as well. 

“I’m also saving your spot in decathlon, nerd. Now start copying the notes. And eat something.” She gestured towards his apple next to his notebooks. 

“I - yeah, sure. Thank you.” When he looked up again, MJ had resumed her reading. 

When he was about to start rewriting his report, he frowned. “Wait, MJ, how did you know these were mine?” 

MJ threw him a disinterested glance. “I know your handwriting, loser. I also figured not that many students here have Tony Stark’s signature on their chemistry project.” 

Peter turned towards his notes and plucked the post-it from his lab report. 

_“Don’t forget your stats, kid! Have a good day at school.  
Don’t skip lunch. – Tony.” _

He smiled and continued writing his report, but not without finishing his apple first.


	2. Patience.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even a peaceful character like Peter Parker loses his patience at some point. And that point is reached on a hot summer afternoon during decathlon practice, when Flash annoys him one too many times. (not violent at all, just a bit of fun!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Back with chapter 2. I might end up with all five chapters somehow fitting into one timeline, but I can't promise it just yet. I know that's an unusual take on a 5+1 fic, but I'll just go with it.

The afternoon was way too hot to be spent sitting in a tiny classroom, drilling decathlon questions under MJ’s rigorous captaincy, but Peter thought it best to only use his scarce MJ-approved absences for impending threats of world domination (or, like, bank robberies and stuff). 

Still, he found it harder and harder to stay focused, and judging by the overall decreasing performance of the team today, the other’s didn’t have it any easier. Ned had taken to using his flashcards as a fan, and Sally looked like she was also ready to sacrifice her neatly written notes on Renaissance literature for the bliss of a tiny amount of cool air around her face. 

The sense of relief that overcame the room when MJ’s timer beeped was palpable. Everyone slumped back in their seats, any feeling (or pretence) of focus gone and replaced by the typical summertime daze. MJ shot them a disapproving glance. 

“Okay, nerds - before you all go home to bathe in ice-water, or whatever, I have to let you know that as a reward for winning the Decathlon regionals, we were offered a tour of our capitalist overlord Stark Industries next Friday, to gain insight into our career opportunities, as they so wonderfully put it. We meet here at 9am. If you’re late, you’re out.” MJ seemed mostly indifferent to her own announcement, but excitement was evident on her teammates’ faces. Peter inwardly rolled his eyes - he would bet anything that Mr Stark or Pepper had something to do with this. But he was kind of excited - this could be the first field trip that didn’t end in some sort of a life-threatening situation for him. Anything but a repetition of D.C., please. 

“Give me your permission slips until next Wednesday so the school doesn’t get sued. Harrington will come with us.” MJ continued, only to be interrupted by Cindy.

“Do you know any details about the tour? Will we see the labs?” Cindy was already half out of her seat, pulling Sally up with her in excitement who suddenly seemed to have forgotten all about the despair that almost got her to downgrade her Renaissance notes to the role of a folding fan. 

“I don’t know, Cindy. Just take the facts that we’re a bunch of gifted kids from a renowned STEM school and that we’re visiting a Fortune 500 in electrical and biochemical engineering, and take a wild guess,” MJ deadpanned. Cindy grinned, apparently unaffected by her captain’s dismissive tone. 

“That’s awesome!” – “Oh my God, do you think we’ll see any Avengers?” Ned looked around wide-eyed, as if he hadn’t met any superheroes before. Peter smiled fondly and took out his phone under the table. 

Pete: _just heard something about a field trip? did u plan this?_

Tony: _My idea, Pepper’s execution._

Pete: _.._

Tony: _Both Pepper’s idea and execution. I contributed some verbal encouragement though._

Peter suppressed a grin and let his phone slide back into his pocket. When he looked up, he found the rest of his teammates staring at him, the looks ranging from curious (Cindy) to challenging (Flash) to amused (MJ). 

“Um, what’s up?”

“I _said_ ,” Flash repeated mockingly, “that I can’t wait to see your supposed workplace, Parker.” 

Peter had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Flash’s constant jabbing at something that wasn’t at all his concern was slowly but surely grating on Peter’s nerves. 

“Glad you’re looking forward to it.” He swore he saw MJ hide a grin. Flash bristled at his response. 

“Still keeping that lie up, Parker? Let me reiterate, once again, that you’re a _high schooler_. You may have decent grades -” Ned let out a cough that suspiciously sounded like _alternate_ \- “but they don’t take people below college level, much less give random students without any training access to labs and dangerous equipment and whatnot. I bet you can’t even enter the building on your own.” At some point during this well-practised speech, Flash had stood up from his seat, presumably to have more space for his ample hand gestures that conveyed his discontent.

MJ sighed audibly. “Eugene, let it go. It’s getting old.”

But something about today - the hot weather, maybe, or perhaps he was just finally at a point where Tony’s attitude had rubbed off on him enough - made Peter snap. 

“No. You know, what, Flash?” He stood up to meet Flash at eye-level and only vaguely registered the looks of surprise on his team’s faces. 

“You’re on.” He stared at Flash, determined not to back down. If this was what had to happen to finally get this nuisance off his back about the internship, then so be it. 

“What do you mean, Parker?” 

Peter smiled as he detected a hint of newfound insecurity in Flash’s voice. 

“I believe you issued a bet? You’re on. I bet that I can enter the building of Stark Tower and get past security without anyone holding me back. So, what are the stakes?” He raised his eyebrows. Abe whistled, impressed by Peter’s sudden burst of confidence. 

Flash huffed. “You wanna do this, Parker? Fine. I win, and you have to publicly admit that I was right about your internship being a fraud. And when we get partnered for a class project at any point during the school year, you have to do all the work and give me the credit for it.” He crossed his arms, but the light flush on his cheeks betrayed his calm exterior. 

Peter suppressed a laugh. “Okay. If I win, you quit the name-calling, and you’ll sit next to Harrington on the bus the next time we drive to a competition.” Harrington was known for developing very specialised interests and regaling whoever was nearby with intricate technicalities of the subject matter. And Flash wasn’t exactly known for his listening skills. “I hear he’s currently really into birdwatching.” 

His teammates snickered and Peter caught MJ’s approving glance. He smiled and extended his hand to Flash, who didn’t look so sure of himself anymore.

“Deal?” 

Flash, with the choice between losing face or accepting the challenge, took Peter’s hand and shook it. And if Peter let a tiny bit of spider strength into the handshake, it was definitely an accident. 

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated :) also find me on tumblr: sapphirestark.tumblr.com


	3. A Reputation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I've posted this before and took it down. Now I'm saying "screw it" and I'm reuploading it. It might not be my best work ever, but I hope some of you will still enjoy it!

“Welcome to Stark Industries. I’m Emilia, it’s nice to meet you all!” The woman smiled at the bunch of students standing around her in a semi-circle. All of them were excited for this trip - if not for Stark Industries, then definitely for the bet between Peter and Flash. Many of them had made their own bets - how many people would recognise Peter, how long it would take for Flash to lose, and if Flash would live up to his word afterwards. Surprisingly, all of them seemed to side with Peter - maybe his sudden burst of confidence had been enough to convince them of his honesty. 

“I’ll distribute your security passes now. They’re the lowest level out of ten and will get you anywhere you need to be as long as I’m there as well.” 

Everyone grabbed a pass while Peter stayed back. He didn’t need one - he probably would’ve lost it a long time ago. Plus, as Spider-Man, he didn’t exactly enter through the lobby, so Friday recognised his biometrics anyway. Now he was just a random teenager with a suspiciously high clearance, but that was still easier to explain than a superhero going through metal detectors with a badge of a tech company. 

“Sorry, miss - Peter didn’t get one.” Cindy gestured towards him and Emilia’s frown morphed into a grin when she recognised Peter, who waved awkwardly at her. They had worked together previously and had gotten along well. 

“Peter! This is your class?” 

Peter smiled. “Decathlon.” 

“I see. Well, young lady -” she turned towards Cindy, “Peter doesn’t -”

“Oh no, Em, don’t tell them!” Peter interrupted hastily. If he had to suffer for the entire day in an entirely unnecessary tour, he at least wanted to win this bet in style. “I have a bet running on this.” 

Emilia shook her head while laughter bubbled up from her stomach. “God, kid, you’re the worst. Boss would be proud of you.” 

Peter grinned. He probably would.

“Alright then, let’s go. One after another, scan your pass and go through the detector. Friday, our AI, will call out your level, don’t be scared of her. I’ll go first.” 

She did as she said and Friday announced her as “Emilia Moore, Level 5”. Once she was on the other side, she gestured for the first student to follow. 

After eleven announcements of “Guest, Level 1”, Peter was the only one left. Everyone watched with rapt attention since this would be the moment the bet would be decided. Peter grinned easily and took one step towards the detector. Before he even reached it, Friday’s voice came over the speakers. 

“Peter Parker, level 10. Welcome back, young sir.”   
“Thank you, Friday. How are you?” Peter walked through the detector, which didn’t make a sound even though he had his personalised StarkWatch and phone with him that definitely should’ve set it off. 

“I’m well, young sir. I wish you a pleasant field trip.” 

Peter came to a stop at his teammate’s tour group, with all eyes trained on him. MJ was the only one who looked unimpressed. He grinned at Flash, who seemed a bit out of his depths. “So, I believe I just won a bet?” A silence ensued, in which Emilia was clearly trying to hold back her laughter. 

“You have a level ten security clearance?” Cindy stared at him. “Like, I believed you weren’t lying, but -”

Peter just shrugged. When he first realised what kind of clearance he had, he’d been pretty much as shocked as Cindy was right now - but level ten was the only clearance free to go to Tony’s lab without supervision. It was still kind of surreal he could do that. And by now, he had his own lab right next door which also required level ten clearance - if only to protect his alter ego. 

“Dude, you should’ve bet money on this.” Ned stared at him, half in awe and half in amusement. 

Peter grinned. “Nah, the satisfaction is enough. Right, Flash?” Flash looked at him sourly. 

“Fine, I admit you didn’t lie. I still feel like something is off with your whole deal here -” Several people groaned, but Flash continued talking over them - “but I don’t think even you can hack Tony Stark’s AI.” 

“Fair enough. I couldn’t.” Ned probably could. “So you’ll hold up your part of the deal then?” 

Flash scoffed. “I’m a man of my word, Parker.” Their eyes met, and Peter felt like this might mark a truce in their difficult history.

“But how did she know it was you? Why don’t you have a badge like the others?” Sally eyed him as if he had a badge hidden somewhere. 

“Oh, Friday recognises me by biometrics. She has, like, my retinas and height and stuff in her database.” Peter flushed slightly when everyone continues to stare at him as if he were some kind of alien phenomenon. “It’s like that for everyone on level ten”, he hurried to add, even though he wasn’t even sure that was the case. He didn’t even know who else had that clearance - Pepper, probably, Rhodey.. Dr Banner?

Emilia cleared her throat and pulled Peter out of his thoughts. He made a mental note to ask Friday about it later. 

His teammates seemed to have accepted seeing Peter in a new light and were now refocusing on the tour that they were still excited for - it wasn’t everyday they had the chance to see this building (apart from Peter, of course). 

Emilia smiled at the group. “So, should we get on with the tour?”


	4. His Voice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter loses his voice. Tony takes care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so I didn't really like the last chapter and felt like it didn't match the tone of the fic I did so I deleted it. I might post the old one separately somewhere so those of you who liked it can still read it. In any case, I really like the following chapter, so I hope you enjoy it too!

“Good morning, Peter. It’s 8am. Breakfast will be ready shortly.” 

Peter hid his face deeper in his pillow, trying to block out the sunlight that Friday now let into his room. Tony had given him a room with big windows so he could easily access it as Spider-Man, but it certainly had the downside that without the nighttime blackout function, there was no way of hiding from the sunlight in the morning. 

“Fr-dy, l’mme -” Peter croaked, coughing immediately. His throat was sore and he could barely get a word out. What the hell was happening? 

“Fr-dy?” He tried clearing his throat, but it wasn’t helping.

“Peter, I’m having trouble understanding you. Do you require assistance?” 

“No,” Peter tried with all his force to answer, but it came out as barely a whisper. Apparently Friday picked it up though, and stayed silent. 

He slowly got up from his bed. He didn’t feel sick, other than the fact that his throat felt sore and his voice was gone. He thought back to yesterday and cursed inwardly - maybe those three hours explaining R&D projects and lab procedures to his decathlon teammates, plus three hours debate practice in the afternoon, had been a little too much for his vocal cords. At least he'd won his bet against Flash.

He quickly got ready and headed to the kitchen. Maybe some breakfast and something to drink would convince his voice to make an appearance. When he arrived in the kitchen, he saw Tony already sitting there, eating some toast and drinking his usual coffee while reading something on his StarkPad. 

“Morning, kid.” 

Peter nodded noncommittally and headed to the fridge. Would something hot be better for his throat? He hesitated and glanced between the fridge and the kettle, ultimately deciding that orange juice should do the trick. He busied himself with filling a tall glass and thinking about what foods would be easy to swallow when Tony spoke up again. 

“So quiet today?” He raised an eyebrow. “Usually I’m the one who’s not a morning person.” 

Peter quickly downed half of the glass and coughed a bit to loosen up his voice. 

“Mr’nin -” he cleared his throat - “Mornin’, Mr St’rk.” He coughed and shot a disappointed glance at the entirely unhelpful orange juice. 

“Jesus, kid, what happened to your voice?” Tony put down his StarkPad and pulled Peter over to the counter, as if closely inspecting him would solve the mystery. 

“D’n’t kn’w. Mayb’-” Peter coughed again and swore to never go to debate practice without a water bottle again - “-talked too much y'st'rday,” he finished in a whisper. Apparently his choice was either swallowing all the vowels in a raspy deep voice, or getting whole words out but at the cost of volume. He wasn’t sure which was the better option. 

Tony’s face seemed to be caught between relief that it wasn’t something worse, and worry that it was something at all. 

“Laryngitis, I assume?” He quickly looked up to the ceiling. “Friday?” 

“Affirmative, sir.” Friday confirmed.

Tony shook his head and pulled Peter into a hug. “Never gets boring with you, Spider-Kid.” He ruffled his hair and Peter involuntarily leaned into the touch.

“Let’s get you some tea and honey, and quit talking. You need to rest your voice, okay?” Tony pressed a quick kiss to Peter’s head and moved towards the kettle. 

“What kind of tea do you like?”

Peter looked around for something to indicate his preference until he grinned and pointed at Tony’s shirt. Tony looked down in confusion, but it quickly morphed into a matching grin when he realised he was wearing. 

“AC/DC, Back in Black, huh?” 

Peter nodded enthusiastically. 

“Black it is then.” Tony sent him a warm smile and gestures towards the living room. “Go sit on the couch, kid. I’ll join you in a minute. We’ll just have a relaxing day, alright? Your voice will find its way back to you quicker than you can say “Spider-Man”. Until then, type commands to Karen in your phone - I don’t think I have t-shirt slogans for every situation.” The kettle beeped and Tony poured the boiling water over the teabag. “Milk?”

Peter shook his head and was about to force his voice to ask a question when Tony interrupted. 

“Oh no, don’t even think about patrolling. Without your smartass commentary, the criminals wouldn’t even recognise you.” Tony smiled fondly when Peter rolled his eyes but didn’t protest. Patrolling without being able to speak really didn’t sound that appealing. He let himself be gently pushed towards the living room and willingly accepted the hot tea from Tony. 

“I’ll get you some blankets. Anything you wanna watch?” 

Peter grinned and pointed to his own shirt, which proudly stated “May the force be with you”, the word force replaced with its formula of mass times acceleration. Tony followed his gesture and huffed in disbelief, but Peter could see the fondness in his eyes.

“Really, Pete, only you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Constructive feedback is always welcome :) find me on tumblr: sapphirestark.tumblr.com!


End file.
